The present invention relates to a terminal assembly and a connector for connecting together two lengths of flat cables. A known connector for connecting flat cables, called flexible printed circuits, flexible flat cables, or the like, to each other, is shown in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Kokai Publication No. H5-31167. FIG. 20 is a perspective view of a conventional relay connector.
The relay connector includes a housing 806 formed of an insulative and a plurality of conductive terminals 807 held in the housing 806. The terminals 807 are accommodated within grooves formed between a plurality of holding tongues 811 formed in a bottom portion of the housing 806. The terminals 807 include latching openings 807a, and are fixed to the housing 806 by latching the latching openings 807a with latching projections 816 projecting from the holding groove.
End portions of a pair of flat cables 801 are accommodated in the housing 806 and each such cable 801 includes a plurality of conductive leads 803 formed on one surface (bottom surface in the drawing) of a body 802, and an insulating film which covers surfaces of the leads 803. At the end portions of the cables 801, the insulating films are removed, and the conductive leads 803 are exposed. Positioning holes 818 are formed in the cables 801, and projections 813 formed in the housing 806 are engaged with these positioning holes 818 so the cables 801 are accommodated in the housing 806.
Meanwhile, a cover body 809 is movably attached to the housing 806, and when the cover body 809 is closed, the end portions of the pair of cables 801 are held in the housing 806 and a pressure body 814 attached to the inner surface of the cover body 809 presses against the flat cables 801. Therefore, the conductive leads 803 of the flat plate-shaped cable 801 are pressed against connecting projections 807b and the leads 803 and terminals 807 are connected.
Nevertheless, because the flat cables 801 are positioned by the engagement of the housing projections 813, the structure of the becomes complex and increases in size. In recent years, electronic parts are becoming increasingly more miniaturized, and flat cables 801 are narrower, and their leads 803 have smaller pitches, and it is difficult to form positioning holes 818 in the body 802 of the narrow flat cables 801 as well as form the projections 813 in the housing 806. Of course, it may be possible to position the cable 801 by allowing the outer side edge of the cable body 802 to contact the inner side surface of the connector housing 806, but because the dimensional accuracy of the cable body 802 is generally low, the positional accuracy of the inner side surface of the housing 806 relative to the terminals 807 cannot be increased, and the positioning accuracy of the cable 801 is reduced.